Jonny Cooper: Dublin able to stay calm and composed in Championship moments

Dublin's Jonny Cooper being interviewed by the media in the empty seats of the Hogan Stand at Croke Park. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

For the period of time between David Coldrick’s final whistle and Stephen Cluxton climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand, Jonny Cooper stood removed from the Dublin group.

As the Dublin players, management, and backroom staff came together in celebration down towards the Hill 16 End, Cooper stood on the periphery of this blue circle looking in at his teammates, admiring them almost.

Though he was not asked afterwards, one imagines the 31-year-old was better able to savour the immediacy of this All-Ireland final win by comparison with the incalculable sense of relief that flooded his emotions 15 months ago having been sent off in the first half of the drawn final against Kerry.

Or perhaps his reflective post-match stance was tied to his remarks that there are no guarantees he’ll be in this position again, that of first-team starter on an All-Ireland winning Dublin side.

“Who knows what will happen for a few of us in the future,” he told the socially distanced media on the steps of the Lower Hogan, “it’s a competitive squad there and obviously a new coach and management team that’s keeping us all on our toes as well.

“To be here with this group, we've been lucky enough and privileged enough to be in similar positions, but we don't have our families [on this occasion]. It's a little bit different. It has to be appreciated.” 

Saturday’s victory secured a seventh All-Ireland medal for the Na Fianna clubman, a far cry from the afternoon of the county’s 2012 Leinster final win when he was handed the number 33 shirt.

Cooper is now a member of a select group to have started each one of the county’s most recent seven final wins, the collective - and indefatigable - appetite for success attributed to a lack of complacency and relentless adherence to the standards that set this Dublin team apart.

“You need to drive those standards and those behaviours 24-7. So that’s obviously important. It’s easy to say it, but I guess doing it is a different thing.

“You have to work on it, it takes a lot of discipline and effort. That’s what you sign up for, but, personally, you have to keep it going as much as you can.

“You’re not perfect every day, you are reliant on other guys. But, personally, I’m in that senior leadership category so you have to front up as much as you can.” 

And it was the group leaders, Cooper reckoned, who were as much responsible as Dessie Farrell for ensuring a seamless changing of the guard following Jim Gavin’s decision to step down this time last year. The extension of the county’s unbeaten championship run from 41 to 42 games on Saturday is emblematic of that smooth and successful handover.

“Nothing strikes me, to be honest,” replied Cooper when asked if Dessie had brought something markedly different to the table.

“I guess there’s a transition of power that happens from management and coaching, but also from a player point of view as well. There’s a number of newer players, so there’s a transition of power that responsibility falls on leaders within the group from a player point of view, but also from [Dessie’s] side.

“So we just try to co-create together from the two sides, particularly early on in the season. Then obviously there was a big break, so we tried to stay cohesive as best we could. And in the last number of weeks, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves with this new kind of group.” 

No more than Farrell, Cooper was of the view Dublin managed well the period after half-time where they were a man down. The champions were a point to the good, 2-9 to 0-14, when the defender hobbled out of proceedings on 54 minutes.

“Half-time, a man down, we had to readjust and, to be honest, up the tempo a little bit. We managed to control it for a couple of minutes at the start [of the second-half] which managed to give us a little bit of a footing.

“They were there or thereabouts, coming at us still in waves, so we had to readjust a little bit. Then we got the full complement back and that gave us a better opportunity just to settle things down, but it was probably nip and tuck there for a while until maybe towards the end it widened a small bit.

“There’s experience there. We've been in these situations before, just knowing to stay composed and stay calm and keep structure and order to our game.” 

That, as ever, they did.